1926. Burke's novel begins: Monica Minasi was named Twinkletoes by the teacher at the Council School which she attended in her early years; and you had but to glance at her tempestuous limbs to realize that no other name belonged to her. When she arrived in Shantung Place, Poplar, she had a mother and a father. But within a week she had other friends. Mother at first didn't like her to play in the streets as other children did. She said it would make her grow up rough, and run in the gutters, and tear her cloths; and that nobody respected a mother who allowed her children to run in the gutters. But there were nice differences in Shantung Place; it was easy to find a sympathetic set; and when Twinkletoes told her mother how nicely the Matchkey boys and girls behaved, she was allowed to play in the street after school, so long as she didn't run in the gutter, and came in before dark. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.